I love the fact that Scully willingly goes to the therapist instead of the usual cliche of tough cop that doesn't need to take care of their mental health.
Yes! So much this!! She recognizes she needs help and she goes and gets it! She does not wait until she's basically in a crisis and she does not get dragged there by Mulder or forced by Skinner! Or do something irrational, careless and dangerous which lands her or Mulder in the hospital. Or gets together with Mulder and all her issues vanish suddenly.
TV censorship would not allow the word "necrophilia". Hence, they had to use "death fetishist". Truly, one of the creepiest cases of the week in X-Files history.
I'm a fan of both Stephen King and the X-Files and every now and then you get a "normal Joe" without supernatural abilities who's just... Evil. And they're usually some of the scariest monsters. That's the case here. It could realistically happen and it's creepy. The Mulder and Scully moments are so cute. Scully's trying to be strong because she doesn't want Mulder to have to protect her (and honestly I get it, she's a woman in a male-domimated field and she ain't no damsel in distress) and Mulder's just like "talk to me!!" Love your X-Files reviews!
Chris Carter and David Nutter (director) have said in interviews that Donny's shape shifting was based on actual reports given by victims of serial killers. *From the wiki* "There are reports of people who had been under the spell of Jeffrey Dahmer, who actually claimed that he shape-shifted during those hours when they were held hostage; that his image actually changed. In many ways, Chris wanted to sell the idea that, as established in Mulder's closing dialogue in the show, not all terror comes from the paranormal. It could come from the person next door." This is one of the top episodes of the series in my opinion.
This is one of the scariest episodes in the series' entire run and there's actually nothing at all supernatural in the whole thing. Also, my little shipper heart near exploded with that hug at the end. Easily ranks in the Top 10.
@Dio thanks for answering. But nobody was waching him at that moment. Also, if that was the case, it was the only moment in the series where they used those kinds of analogies. Why? It's about supernatural events. There is no point in denying a supernatural event when it has just been shown to us right under our noses
@Dio he also changed into another person. Not only a Demon. He could be just a monster in a monster show. The aliens were evil people too? And the space ships mean christmas..?
You will get Scully addressing her abduction in future seasons with the best response happening in the last episode of season 11 in the last scene of that episode.
I was really waiting for you guys to react to this episode! I love that they finally start to deal with the aftermath that Scully had because of her abduction, this therapy thing becomes frequent in some episodes and I love it because we can listen to her really sincerely, saying the things that sometimes she doesn't tell Mulder because she doesn't dare to show him her feelings...
It is curious that Gillian doesn't remember almost any episode but she does remember Donny Pfaster, she found it very disturbing that he desecrates the bodies of women, both living and dead, just horrible. And you know what? maybe he'll come back...
This is the only X Files villian/monster that ever scared me. They actually had written him as a full necrophile, but Fox standards and practices said no, so they made up this 'death fetishist' which apparently is not a real thing. It's clear that the Scully character and even Gillian's approach to the character were heavily influenced by Jodi Foster's Clarice Starling.
@@wolfgangengel4835 I read info about it from one of the writers and they said him switching to different people/creatures was just supposed to represent the epitome of evil. There was nothing supernatural about him.
@@BatmanFanGirl I think that was Chris Carters intention. He wrote this first episode about Donnie. I don't want to spoiler too much, but there is a comeback episode for Donnie Pfaster in a later season, written by another writer, where they dive deeper into that diabolic/demonic/supernatural thing about him.
Being from Minnesota, I found it really weird that they act like Minneapolis is a small town where people don't lock their doors. Minneapolis is a full-on city. There are some very dangerous neighborhoods there, so yes people lock their doors. I could see maybe in the suburbs or a small rural town, people acting like that in the early 90's, but not in the middle of a city.
